Huth wants to ‘shake’ Chelsea star over poor ‘body language’
Robert Huth wants to “shake” Chelsea playmaker Kai Havertz over his poor “body language” since he arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Havertz joined the Blues in the summer transfer window in a deal worth £72m from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, with Frank Lampard splashing over £200m on new players.
The Germany international’s performances have been well below the level expected with one goal and two assists in 16 Premier League appearances this season.
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And former Chelsea defender Huth isn’t happy with Havertz’s body language on the pitch and thinks the 21-year-old looks a “bit lightweight”.
“It’s all well and good saying he needs to be the main guy but he’s at a big club and he needs to make that happen himself. Now is the time to shine,” Huth told Stadium Astro. “I just don’t like his body language at all, he looks a bit lightweight. It’s his first year, but he looks like he’s not bothered at times.
“He loses the ball, gives it away and doesn’t work back. It is a difficult time to come in with no fans, but you just want to shake him. We used to have [Riyad] Mahrez in our changing room [at Leicester] who got a lot better, but the team took care of him by saying ‘you can’t just do one side of it or 10 minutes of the game’.
“Maybe Chelsea lack that internal leader or leaders where that conversation happens. It’s not always a nice conversation to have when you’re not performing well, but it needs to happen.
“He needs someone to tell him what it takes to play in the Premier League. Maybe the whole changing room is a little bit too nice.”
On Timo Werner, another summer signing, Huth added: “Werner started well.
“We can talk about whether he should play down the middle or on the wing, but the fact is that he just can’t score at the moment. He does get chances. He does get in positions, we have seen it before with strikers, he is in one of those phases where he needs a goal and his confidence builds.”